From Coffee Onwards
by pecfert
Summary: AU - There is no dome. Barbie and Julia (and their cat) over the first twelve months they spend together.


(1)

Barbie makes coffee in the mornings. He doesn't use the Folgers Julia has in her cabinet, which he refers to as, "The Bad Beans", he grows his own and when he "plans" to stay over, he brings them.

(And by "plans" we all know that he stays over almost every night of the week except for weekends because he has to try to make it look like someone's still in his apartment. For God's sake, Julia is now the proud owner of some new coffee bean plants.)

(2)

Julia goes out of her way to bring him lunch at the police station. At first, it's under the guise of, "Oh, you forgot this when you were over, and I thought you'd need it." And she'd slip him a ham and cheese sandwich with no mayo because she knows that he detests mayonnaise like it's winter (which he hates with a burning passion).

But now, after two months, it's quite obvious she just wants to see him (although we're all aware that Julia sees him every day), and Linda just smiles and gives him an extra 15 minutes on his lunch break so he can play footsie with her while they catch up with each other.

(Linda also allows him to go home early, but no one has to know that.)

(3)

They go shopping for a couch because the last one Julia owned got ... wrecked ... because it was not sturdy enough for _reasons_. So when Julia points out this long, soft, and _oh so comfortable_ vermillion red couch that after a heavy make out session seems to hold up pretty well, they buy it.

(And if it's used for _reasons_, well then.)

(4)

It's about time that they move in with each other. Since month one, Barbie's been over Julia's place every week. It's no secret that he's over there - everyone seems to know it. They decide that he's going to move in with her because he already has most of his belongings there anyways (clothes, his precious record collection, his own side of the sink, and a couple of his boxers in Julia's underwear drawer, his own half of the closet), and his apartment just makes him sad, because it reminds him of the time when he was alone.

(Thinking about a time before Julia was in his life just makes him want to keep her forever, so if he had a tiny ring hidden in the bottom of his desk to propose to her, then that's his own business.)

(5)

Julia says "I love you" first and it doesn't even take Barbie a second to respond with the same three words. She's ecstatic because she has never loved someone as much as she loves him. He kisses her softly, first her forehead, then her cheeks, and finally reclaims her lips. Barbie doesn't believe that he could ever find someone so amazing to share his life with.

(But of course he could. They would have found each other, no matter the circumstance, because they were meant to be.)

(6)

Their first fight is unexpected, at the least. There had been nothing building up to it, no increasing tensions, no suspicious glances. Barbie didn't even remember what they were shouting about. It had seemed so important at the time, but it wasn't, because after Julia yelled at him, and he snapped, yelling even more loudly back at her, she grabbed her keys and left, slamming the door behind her. Barbie had sunk into the couch (the _red_ one), and he cried. He didn't want this to end. She meant too much to him.

So he got up, grabbed his own keys and left, going to the one spot he knew she'd be.

So what if she wasn't there? He'd keep searching. He loved her. He'd go to hell and back for her.

(And if he found her, outside Sweetbriar Rose at three am, and she stared up at him, hurt displayed so clearly on her face her felt he might start crying again. If they hugged each other so fiercely after Barbie told her he couldn't lose her, _he loved her_, and he never wanted to hurt her, and she had forgiven him, well, that was because she felt the same way.)

(7)

Julia was once married, but that didn't work out. Now, she isn't sure how to feel about it. On one hand, with Barbie at her side, she knows they can get through anything. They've overcome a lot in their own lives, and together, they manage to be not so broken as they used to be.

On the other hand, _marriage_. It was more a business deal than love, and going through with it meant things would be different. But this was Barbie. Julia was willing to go to the ends of the earth to find him if he got lost.

(We all know, though, that Julia would say yes if he asked, because Barbie was worth it. Even the possibility of heartbreak.)

(8)

They got a cat. She was named after his father, Don. (Donatella, or just Donnie for short.) Donatella liked to curl up between Barbie and Julia when they watched tv. She also liked to meow loudly in the middle of the night when they were sleeping. But Barbie and Julia loved their white and gray tabby nonetheless. She curled around their ankles in the kitchen when they cooked and ate.

There was a time when Julia left town for a press conference, and Donatella was sent into a funk. She had almost cried the whole five days. Barbie had only managed to make her stop crying on the fourth day when he was talking on speaker with her and Donatella jumped on the table and started to purr while she rubbed the phone.

(Now he knew that when Julia went away, or vise versa, to talk at least once a day on speakerphone so their cat wouldn't cry. Because seeing Donatella upset made them upset as well. Donatella had managed to bring them closer than they had previously been. All through crying.)

(9)

During the middle of April, Barbie and Julia took a vacation. They decided to go to a small beach town in New Jersey, because in their busy lives, had never gone to the beach. They didn't want to spend their savings on airfare to go to Mexico, so New Jersey it was.

It was peaceful. They strolled on the beach at sunset, ate dinner at the town's restaurants, kissed in the rain.

(Barbie and Julia were miserable when they had to leave. It was the best vacation they had ever been on. But they promised one another that when they retired they'd find a house down there.)

(10)

When Julia got the flu, she was always away from work for two weeks. She seldom got sick, but when she did, it was rough. Before she was with Barbie, she attempted to power through it by taking all the vitamins and pills that she needed to, and ate the best she could, even if she didn't want to, or have the appetite. Before, she would feel weak, powerless against the brunt of flu, and stay in bed for days on end.

With Barbie, she had someone to look after her, and she hadn't had that in years. The flu's force seemed to lessen when he was around. And he was around constantly, even when she was sick. Julia could swear that he was impervious to getting sick, and she was so thankful for that. He made the best chicken noodle soup Julia had ever eaten, and was an excellent cuddle buddy.

(And one week later when Julia was feeling better, and leaned down to kiss Barbie before heading out to conduct an interview and he sneezed right after they broke apart, she immediately cancelled her interview to take care of him.)

(11)

When Barbie proposed, they had been lounging on the couch, in the middle of a _Rizzoli & Isles _marathon, watching as Jane processed the idea of marrying Casey, Barbie had told her that they should do that. Get married. Julia looked at him like he was crazy for a moment, her mouth agape, one eyebrow raised high above the other, as he pulled the ring out of his pocket.

He looked at her then, all hope and a smile on his face, before Julia mouthed _yes, yes_ into his lips while he slid the ring onto her finger, pulling her closer into his arms while Donatella weaved in between their feet.

(And after they had finished marathoning through the fourth season, they made their way to the bedroom to celebrate their engagement.)

(12)

Barbie and Julia spent the day in bed, marathoning through reruns of their favorite shows, only pausing for food and bathroom breaks. They returned from their lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and entered the bed, Donatella curling up at the end of their bed, and fell asleep. Not long after, Julia followed in suit, her eyes drooping until she nodded off, her head resting on Barbie's shoulder. He moved his arm around her, turned the sound down, and kissed her head.

(It was a good life that they had, Barbie decided. They had each other, Donatella, and the rest of their days to spend together.)


End file.
